This is a post by author Edmond Yuen. Edmond is head of Trip Support Services, Asia-Pacific, for Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc., located in Hong Kong. Edmond is an expert on business aircraft operations in Asia and can be contacted at edmondyuen@univ-wea.com.

Landing permits, Prior Permissions Required (PPRs), and airport slots are needed for all travel to Hong Kong (VHHH). A trip to Hong Kong – involving multiple request procedures to various airport authority departments – requires more pre-planning than those to most other international locations. For any operation to Hong Kong, it’s best to have your 3rd-party provider and ground handler involved in the planning process early on.

The following is an overview of what you need to know:

1. Landing permit requirements

Landing permits are needed for all aircraft traveling to VHHH – both private non-revenue and charter (non-schedule commercial). For private flights official permit lead time is three business days. Charter operations officially require seven days’ permit lead time. However, three days’ lead time is often sufficient, assuming the operator has all required documentation in place. Short-notice permits, within three days’ lead time, are possible for private flights only. VHHH permits are valid for +/- 72 hours. Normal Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) hours for processing permits are Monday-Friday, 0900-1800 local, and CAA is closed weekends and holidays. If CAA is closed at the time of your request, Air Traffic Control (ATC) has the ability to process short-notice permits.

2. Landing permit documentation

For landing permit requests, operators must provide certificates of airworthiness and registration, a noise certificate and evidence of appropriate worldwide liability insurance. Note that CAA is very particular in terms of format and wording on your insurance policy. We’ve seen permits denied due to incorrectly placed or missing information, which in some cases may be a comma. It’s always best to check with your 3rd-party provider on the exact insurance documentation verbiage required for operations to VHHH.

3. PPR requirements

In order to operate to VHHH – regardless of length of stay – General Aviation (GA) operators must have an approved PPR, landing permit, and airport slot. PPRs may be applied for up to 30 days in advance, but the minimum recommended lead time is 24 hours prior to the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA). If your PPR request is denied, it’s best to keep trying by submitting additional requests. For the best outcome, it’s recommended to have your 3rd-party provider submit PPR requests, as they can follow up with airport authorities. PPRs remain valid for the entire (local) day. Revisions are necessary, however, if you change your schedule beyond the 72-hour deviation or if you change your departure or arrival airport. A new PPR application will be needed if you change tail number or aircraft type.

4. PPRs and exceptions

Operators of aircraft based at VHHH must also apply for PPRs and await approval. The only exception is for aircraft with their own hangar space. While these operators must still make applications for PPRs, airport authorities know which aircraft have hangar spaces and will not deny the PPR request to those that do. If a transient operator is able to secure hangar space, for their time on the ground at VHHH, they’ll also enjoy automatic PPR approval.

5. Home-based versus transient aircraft

The 20 or so GA parking spots available at VHHH accommodate both home-based and transient movements. Both types of operations are treated the same and have the same PPR priority unless operators have their own hangar space. Note that GA hangar capacity is very limited at VHHH. We’ve seen locally based VHHH operators denied PPRs due to lack of overnight parking space.

6. PPR confirmations

Once your PPR is approved, you’ll receive a confirmation, and this must be given to your ground handler. This is because when the aircraft arrives the handler needs to insert your arrival time and PPR number into an online system that’s shared between the airport and ground handler. If your PPR confirmation is not provided to the handler, airport authorities will not know that you’ve arrived with approval. Note that PPR confirmations do not need to be placed in the International Civil Aviation Organization section of your flight plan.

7. Airport slots

Airport slots are required for all arrivals/departures, and these are requested via the VHHH slot coordinator. Note that slots may only be requested up to seven days in advance and priority is always given to scheduled commercial operations. If you request a slot more than seven days out, the slot coordinator will typically not respond, to ensure that all scheduled commercial flights are accommodated. Airport slots can be requested online or via e-mail. All requests must include the tail number, full schedule (including departure point prior to VHHH), and seating capacity of the aircraft. Responses from the slot coordinator are sent via e-mail, and slot deviation is +/- 20 minutes. All slot requests must reflect a five-minute interval, so you’ll need to round up/down the ETA and estimated time of departure to the nearest five minutes. If you plan to travel to Hong Kong during a holiday period, it’s best to request slots seven days in advance. In the past operators needed to have airport slots approved before a landing permit could be processed, but this is no longer the case.

Conclusion

Once parking has been confirmed at VHHH, it’s important to be careful with any schedule changes or parking revisions. Your ground handler will be able to assist you in this regard. Also, note that the earliest a slot can be requested is seven days prior to the aircraft’s operation into this location.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this article or about operating to Hong Kong, contact me at edmondyuen@univ-wea.com.

An expert on operations to Asia, Edmond Yuen has more than 10 years’ experience in business aviation. Edmond, who currently serves as head of Universal® Trip Support Asia, is based in Hong Kong and is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Prior to joining Universal, Edmond served eight years as an operations manager for a major Asian charter company. Edmond’s expertise in operations is recognized throughout the business aviation industry, and he is frequently requested to speak on panels at events such as the Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exposition, as well as by industry publications. Edmond, who is a private pilot, can be reached at edmondyuen@univ-wea.com